• Question: What is it that makes diseases caused by viruses and bacteria hard to treat?

    Asked by meg123 to Amy, Karen, Sarah, Vijay, Will on 19 Jun 2012.
    • Photo: Sarah Martin

      Sarah Martin answered on 19 Jun 2012:

      Hi meg!

      bacteria have become very easy to treat with antibiotics, since the discovery of penicillin and lots of other bacteria killing medicines since then. Viruses are still tricky, because they’re not actually alive – but some anti-viral drugs now do work well for people with HIV for example, but they can’t yet be cured.
      The best thing against viruses still is to use vaccinations, like for example against the flu virus every year.

      🙂 Sarah

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